Hay's Way: Katharine updates us on her NC500 journey from Strathy to Bettyhill

The Scotsman

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00:00Hello, just an update from the North Coast 500 which is one of Scotland's popular tourist

00:26routes that takes you around the Highlands. I'm just in between a place called Strathy

00:32and Betty Hill on the North Coast stretch, so I came up from Inverness, went along the

00:38East Coast and I'm coming along the North and will be heading down the West Coast. And

00:45in my last update I was talking about how I was going to be looking at how tourism is

00:51impacting the area both positive and negative and a few things have come up on the route

00:58so far. Obviously the increase in visitors to this area has been beneficial to businesses

01:06because it's increased footfall and the numbers, businesses are seeing a lot more people coming

01:14through the door because this route has really exploded. A lot of people have actually said

01:20it's become a bit of a victim of its own success and they weren't expecting it to be

01:24as popular as it has been in the last decade or so since it was launched in 2015. But yeah,

01:34one couple who I met at the Strathy Inn just a few miles back, they were saying that the

01:40visitor, the type of visitor that comes on this route has changed in the last 10 years

01:46and it was quite interesting to hear how the dynamic between the host and visitor is changing.

01:53One example being at the Strathy Inn they used to welcome people like bird watchers

01:58and walkers who would come up for a week or something and they would use the B&B as a

02:04base and go off and do adventures from there. Whereas now they're seeing a lot more people

02:09who come just stay for one night who just tend to have a sort of list of things that

02:15they want to go and do, what a lot of locals are calling a sort of box ticking exercise.

02:21So yeah, it's just there's a change in the kind of the types of people that this area

02:28is attracting now. And another thing that's come up which you'll see on the Scotsman website

02:35under Hayes Way but also from my colleague Alison Campsey, articles about how the Highland

02:43Council's recent voluntary £40 scheme where they allow motorhomes and camper vans to

02:51park up in a council car park for overnight is causing a little bit of tension among the

03:00camper van and caravan site, designated sites around the Highlands because understandably

03:07they're paying business rates, VAT, charges that are quite steep for them to keep their

03:14places open with all the sort of facilities and they're finding that they're having to

03:21now compete with the council's what some of them are calling a cheaper offer. I mean obviously

03:25if it's voluntary then sometimes they're not paying it at all. So yeah, there was a meeting

03:33last week between camper van site owners and the council just to try and discuss that

03:40a little bit more. But yeah, I've also heard that this time of year there's a little bit

03:46of a lull at the end of August because Scottish schools are going back and there's just a

03:51week before the English schools start but apparently it picks up again a little bit

03:55in September. So yeah, I have noticed that there's quite a lot of traffic on the roads

04:03and speaking to some local farmers, local traders, certainly the amount of vehicles

04:12that have increased over time does cause a bit of issue with timings of getting to places like

04:20the sort of bigger towns or the hospital. So that is something that's also clearly impacting

04:28the local people here. But yeah, I'm yet to kind of find out a bit more about what's happening

04:34on the West Coast. So that just so far, it sounds like whilst people are keen on the

04:43tourism and are happy that the NC500, which it's referred to, has put the Highlands on

04:50the map, there are concerns over infrastructure or lack of whilst this route has been increasing

04:59in popularity, but also just new schemes like this voluntary £40 scheme that the council

05:07are introducing, which is causing a bit of upset among businesses that have established

05:15themselves to make specific places for camp vans and motorhomes. So yeah, it's interesting

05:24actually because I've walked past a few where the sites are actually sitting empty and some

05:32of the owners have also told me that they haven't been at full capacity. And I guess

05:37it's because there are other options and obviously in Scotland with the right to roam,

05:43I think people just still camp and park up just wherever they can really. So there's quite a few

05:48conversations going on about how to try and balance that just with keeping the local community engaged,

05:56trying to not disturb too much of the livelihoods up here, but also still keeping an income of

06:05tourism to the area to help the economy. But yeah, that's me just seeing a couple of cyclists go past

06:12and I'm quite grateful actually that I'm walking sometimes when I see these hills because it can't

06:16be easy on a bike. I've heard that this stretch, the owner of the Stratheon was saying that there

06:24are quite a few hills here and just because of the way the glen is, the way the land is,

06:30cyclists often find themselves having to pedal to go downhill because the headwind can be really

06:36strong. So yeah, I do feel for them. But luckily when you're walking, you can just kind of stop

06:41when things get too hard, which is what I was just doing now. But yeah, that's me on my way

06:47to Bessie Hill. I'll probably be there in, I think it's about 10 miles from here. But yeah,

06:53as always, if you're interested in anything rural affairs related, but also just what I'm covering

06:58at the moment, the NC500, you can find the stories under the section Hayes Way on the Scotsman. But

07:05also, as I said, my colleague Alison Campsey is also covering stories about tourism in the

07:11Highlands and places like the Isle of Skye as well. So you can look out for those as well.

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